Ridgway of Montana by William MacLeod Raine

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and she was quite sure that the potential capacity lay in her to care agood deal more for him than for anybody else she had met. Since it was noton the cards, as Miss Virginia had shuffled the pack, that she should marryprimarily for reasons sentimental, this annoyed her in her sophisticatedhours.

But in the hours when she was a mere girl when she was not so confidentlythe heir of all the feminine wisdom of the ages, her annoyance took anotherform. She had told Lyndon Hobart of her engagement because it was thehonest thing to do; because she supposed she ought to discourage any hopeshe might be entertaining. But it did not follow that he need have let thesehopes be extinguished so summarily. She could have wished his scrupulousregard for the proper thing had not had the effect of taking him socompletely out of her external life, while leaving him more insistentlythan ever the subject of her inner contemplation.

Virginia's conscience was of the twentieth century and American, though shewas a good deal more honest with herself than most of her sex in the samesocial circle. Also she was straightforward with her neighbors so far asshe could reasonably be. But she was not a Puritan in the least, though sheheld herself to a more rigid account than she did her friends. She judgedher betrothed as little as she could, but this was not to be entirelyavoided, since she expected her life to become merged so largely in his.There were hours when she felt she must escape the blighting influence ofhis lawlessness. There were others when it seemed to her magnificent.

Except for the occasional jangle of a bit or the ring of a horse's shoe ona stone, there was silence which lasted many minutes. Each was busy withher thoughts, and the narrowness of the trail, which here made them go insingle file, served as an excuse against talk.

"Perhaps we had better turn back," suggested Virginia, after the path haddescended to a gulch and merged itself in a wagon-road. "We shall have nomore than time to get home and dress for dinner."

Aline turned her pony townward, and they rode at a walk side by side.

"Do you know much about the difficulty between Mr. Harley and Mr. Ridgway?I mean about the mines--the Sherman Bell, I think they called it?"

"I know something about the trouble in a general way. Both the Consolidatedand Mr. Ridgway's company claim certain veins. That is true of severalmines, I have been told."

"I don't know anything about business. Mr. Harley does not tell me anythingabout his. To day I was sitting in the open window, and two men stoppedbeneath it. They thought there would be trouble in this mine--that menwould be hurt. I could not make it all out, but that was part of it. I sentfor Mr. Harley and made him tell me what he knew. It would be dreadful ifanything like that happened."

"Don't worry your head about it, my dear. Things are always threatening andnever happening. It seems to be a part of the game of business to bluff, asthey call it."

"I wish it weren't," sighed the girl-wife.

Virginia observed that she looked both sad and weary. She had started onher ride like a prisoner released from his dungeon, happy in the sunshine,the swift motion, the sting of the wind in her face. There had been asparkle in her eye and a ring of gaiety in her laugh. Into her cheeks afaint color had glowed, so that the contrast of their clear pallor with thevivid scarlet of the little lips had been less pronounced than usual. Butnow she was listless and distraite, the girlish abandon all stricken outof her. It needed no clairvoyant to see that her heart was heavy and thatshe was longing for the moment when she could be alone with her pain.

Her friend had learned what she wanted to know, and the knowledge of ittroubled her. She would have given a good deal to have been able to liftthis sorrow from the girl riding beside her. For she was aware that AlineHarley might as well have reached for the moon as that toward which heruntutored heart yearned. She had come to life late and traveled in it but alittle way. Yet the tragedy of it was about to engulf her. No lifeboat wasin sight. She must sink or swim alone. Virginia's unspoiled heart went outto her with a rush of pity and sympathy. Almost the very words that WaringRidgway had used came to her lips.

"You poor lamb! You poor, forsaken lamb!"

But she spoke instead with laughter and lightness, seeing nothing of thegirl's distress, at least, until after they separated at the door of thehotel.

CHAPTER 13. FIRST BLOOD

After Ridgway's cavalier refusal to negotiate a peace treaty, Simon Harleyand his body-guard walked back to the offices of the Consolidated, wherethey arrived at the same time as the news of the enemy's first blow sincethe declaration of renewed war.

Hobart was at his desk with his ear to the telephone receiver when thegreat financier came into the inner office of the manager.

"Yes. When? Driven out, you say? Yes--yes. Anybody hurt? Followed our menthrough into our tunnel? No, don't do anything till you hear from me. SendRhys up at once. Let me know any further developments that occur."

Hobart hung up the receiver and turned on his swivel-chair toward hischief. "Another outrage, sir, at the hands of Ridgway. It is in regard tothose veins in the Copper King that he claims. Dalton, his superintendentof the Taurus, drove a tunnel across our lateral lines and began workingthem, though their own judge has not yet rendered a decision in theirfavor.

Of course, I put a large force in them at once. To-day we tapped theirworkings at the twelfth level. Our foreman, Miles, has just telephoned methat Dalton turned the air pressure on our men, blew out their candles, andflung a mixture of lime and rocks at them. Several of the men are hurt,though none badly. It seems that Dalton has thrown a force into our tunnelsand is holding the entrances against us at the point where the eleventh,twelfth, and thirteenth levels touch the cage. It means that he will workthose veins, and probably others that are acknowledged to be ours, unlesswe drive them out, which would probably be a difficult matter."

Harley listened patiently, eyes glittering and clean-shaven lips pressedtightly against his teeth. "What do you propose to do?"

"I haven't decided yet. If we could get any justice from the courts, aninjunction "

"Can't be got from Purcell. Don't waste time considering it. Fight it outyourself. Find his weakest spot, then strike hard and suddenly." Harley'slow metallic voice was crisp and commanding.

"His weakest spot?"

"Exactly. Has he no mines upon which we can retaliate?"

"There is the Taurus. It lies against the Copper King end to end. He drovea tunnel into some of our workings last winter. That would give apassageway to send our men through, if we decide to do so. Then there ishis New York. Its workings connect with those of the Jim Hill."

"Good! Send as many men through as is necessary to capture and hold bothmines. Get control of the entire workings of them both, and begin takingore out at once. Station armed guards at every point where it is necessary,and as many as are necessary. Use ten thousand men, if you need that many.But don't fail. We'll give Ridgway a dose of his own medicine, and teachhim that for every pound of our ore he steals we'll take ten."

"He'll get an injunction from the courts."

"Let him get forty. I'll show him that his robber courts will not save him.Anyhow, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Hobart, almost swept from his moorings by the fiery energy of his chief,braced himself to withstand the current.

"I shall have to think about that. We can't fight lawlessness withlawlessness except for selfpreservation."

"Think! You do nothing but think, Mr. Hobart. You are here to act," camethe scornful retort; "And what is this but self-preservation."

"I am willing to recapture our workings in the Copper King. I'll lead theattack in person, sir. But as to a retaliatory attack--the facts will notjustify a capture of his property because he has seized ours."

"Wrong, sir. This is no time for half-way measures. I have resolved tocrush this freebooter; since he has purchased your venal courts, then bythe only means left us--force."

Hobart rose from his seat, very pale and erect. His eyes met those of thegreat man unflinchingly. "You realize that this may mean murder, Mr.Harley? That a clash cannot possibly be avoided if you pursue this course?"

"I realize that it is self-preservation," came the cold retort. "There isno law here, none, at least, that gives us justice. We are back tosavagery, dragged back by the madness of this ruffian. It is his choice,not mine. Let him abide by it."

"Your intention to follow this course is irrevocable?"

"Absolutely."

"In that case, I must regretfully offer my resignation as manager of theConsolidated."

"It is accepted, Mr. Hobart. I can't have men working under me that are notloyal, body and soul, to the hand that feeds them. No man can serve twomasters, Mr. Hobart."

"That is why I resign, Mr. Harley. You give me the devil's work to do. Ihave done enough of it. By Heaven, I will be a free man hereafter." Thedisgust and dissatisfaction that had been pent within him for many a monthbroke forth hot from the lips of this self-repressed man. "It is all wrongon both sides. Two wrongs do not make a right. The system of espionage weemploy over everybody both on his side and ours, the tyrannical use we makeof our power, the corruption we foster in politics, our secret bargainswith railroads, our evasions of law as to taxes, and in every other waythat suits us: it is all wrong--all wrong. I'll be a party to it no longer.You see to what it leads--murder and anarchy. I'll be a poor man if I must,but I'll be a free and honest one at least."

"You are talking wickedly and wildly, Mr. Hobart. You are criticizing Godwhen you criticize the business conditions he has put into the world. I didnot know that you were a socialist, but what you have just said explainsyour course," the old man reproved sadly and sanctimonious.

"I am not a socialist, Mr. Harley, but you and your methods have madethousands upon thousands of them in this country during the past ten years."

"We shall not discuss that, Mr. Hobart, nor, indeed, is any discussionnecessary. Frankly, I am greatly disappointed in you. I have for some timebeen dissatisfied with your management, but I did not, of course, know youheld these anarchistic views. I want, however, to be perfectly just. Youare a very good business man indeed, careful and thorough. That you havenot a bold enough grasp of mind for the place you hold is due, perhaps, tothese dangerous ideas that have unsettled you. Your salary will becontinued for six months. Is that satisfactory?"

"No, sir. I could not be willing to accept it longer than to-day. And whenyou say bold enough, why not be plain and say unscrupulous enough?" amendedthe younger man.

"As you like. I don't juggle with words. The point is, you don't succeed.This adventurer, Ridgway, scores continually against you. He has beaten youclear down the line from start to finish. Is that not true?"

"Because he does not hesitate to stoop to anything, because--"

"Precisely. You have given the very reason why he must be fought in thesame spirit. Business ethics would be as futile against him as chivalry indealing with a jungle-tiger."

"You would then have had me stoop to any petty meanness to win, no matterhow contemptible?"

The New Yorker waved him aside with a patient, benignant gesture. "I don'tcare for excuses. I ask of my subordinates success. You do not get it forme. I must find a man who can."

Hobart bowed with fine dignity. The touch of disdain in his slight smilemarked his sense of the difference between them. He was again his composedrigid self.

"Can you arrange to allow my resignation to take effect as soon aspossible? I should prefer to have my connection with the company severedbefore any action is taken against these mines."

"At once--to-day. Your resignation may be published in the Herald thisafternoon, and you will then be acquitted of whatever may follow."

"Thank you." Hobart hesitated an instant before he said: "There is a pointthat I have already mentioned to you which, with your permission, I mustagain advert to. The temper of the miners has been very bitter since yourefused to agree to Mr. Ridgway's proposal for an eight-hour day. I wouldurge upon you to take greater precautions against a personal attack. Youhave many lawless men among your employees. They are foreigners for themost part, unused to self-restraint. It is only right you should know theyexecrate your name."

The great man smiled blandly. "Popularity is nothing to me. I have neithersought it nor desired it. Given a great work to do, with the Divine help Ihave done it, irrespective of public clamor. For many years I have lived inthe midst of alarms, Mr. Hobart. I am not foolhardy. What precautions I canreasonably take I do. For the rest, my confidence is in an all-wiseProvidence. It is written that not even a sparrow falls without His decree.In that promise I put my trust. If I am to be cut off it can only be by Hiswill. 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name ofthe Lord.' Such, I pray, may be the humble and grateful spirit with which Isubmit myself to His will."

The retiring manager urged the point no further. "If you have decided uponmy successor and he is on the ground I shall be glad to give the afternoonto running over with him the affairs of the office. It would be well forhim to retain for a time my private secretary and stenographer."

"Mr. Mott will succeed you. He will no doubt be glad to have yourassistance in helping him fall into the routine of the office, Mr. Hobart."

Harley sent for Mott at once and told him of his promotion. The two menwere closeted together for hours, while trusted messengers went and cameincessantly to and from the mines. Hobart knew, of course, that plans werein progress to arm such of the Consolidated men as could be trusted, andthat arrangements were being made to rush the Taurus and the New York.Everything was being done as secretly as possible, but Hobart's experienceof Ridgway made it obvious to him that this excessive activity could notpass without notice. His spies, like those of the trust, swarmedeverywhere.

It was not till mid-afternoon of the next day that Mott found time to joinhim and run over with him the details of such unfinished business as theoffice had taken up. The retiring manager was courtesy itself, nor did hefeel any bitterness against his successor. Nevertheless, he came to the endof office hours with great relief. The day had been a very hard one, and itleft him with a longing for solitude and the wide silent spaces of the openhills. He struck out in the direction which promised him the quickestopportunity to leave the town behind him. A good walker, he covered themiles rapidly, and under the physical satisfaction of the tramp the brainknots unraveled and smoothed themselves out. It was better so--better tolive his own life than the one into which he was being ground by theinexorable facts of his environment. He was a young man and ambitious, buthis hopes were not selfish. At bottom he was an idealist, though apractical one. He had had to shut his eyes to many things which hedeplored, had been driven to compromises which he despised. Essentiallyclean-handed, the soul of him had begun to wither at the contact of thatwhich he saw about him and was so large a part of.

"I am not fit for it. That is the truth. Mott has no imagination, andproperty rights are the most sacred thing on earth to him. He will dobetter at it than I," he told himself, as he walked forward bareheaded intothe great sunset glow that filled the saddle between two purple hills infront of him.

As he swung round a bend in the road a voice, clear and sweet. came to himthrough the light filtered air.

"Laska!"

young woman on horseback was before him. Her pony stood across the road,and she looked up a trail which ran down into it. The lifted poise of thehead brought out its fine lines and the distinction with which it was setupon the well-molded throat column. Apparently she was calling to somecompanion on the trail who had not yet emerged into view.

At sound of his footsteps the rider's head turned.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Hobart," she said quietly, as coolly as if her hearthad not suddenly begun to beat strangely fast.

"Good afternoon, Miss Balfour."

Each of them was acutely conscious of the barrier between them. Since theday when she had told him of her engagement they had not met, evencasually, and this their first sight of each other was not withoutembarrassment.

"We have been to Lone Pine Cone," she said rather hurriedly, to bridge animpending silence.

He met this obvious statement with another as brilliant.

"I walked out from town. My horse is a little lame."

But there was something she wanted to say to him, and the time for sayingit, before the arrival of her companion, was short. She would not waste itin commonplaces.

"I don't usually read the papers very closely, but this morning I read boththe Herald and the Sun. Did you get my note?"

"Your note? No."

"I sent it by mail. I wanted you to know that your friends are proud ofyou. We know why you resigned. It is easy to read between the lines."

"Thank you," he said simply. "I knew you would know."

"Even the Sun recognizes that it was because you are too good a man for theplace."

"Praise from the Sun has rarely shone my way," he said, with a touch ofirony, for that paper was controlled by the Ridgway interest. "In itsapproval I am happy."

Her impulsive sympathy for this man whom she so greatly liked would notaccept the rebuff imposed by this reticence. She stripped the gauntlet fromher hand and offered it in congratulation.

He took it in his, a slight flush in his face.

"I have done nothing worthy of praise. One cannot ask less of a man thanthat he remain independent and honest. I couldn't do that and stay with theConsolidated, or, so it seemed to me. So I resigned. That is all there isto it."

"It is enough. I don't know another man would have done it, would have hadthe courage to do it after his feet were set so securely in the way ofsuccess. The trouble with Americans is that they want too much success.They want it at too big a price."

"I'm not likely ever to have too much of it," he laughed sardonically.

"Success in life and success in living aren't the same thing. It is becauseyou have discovered this that you have sacrificed the less for thegreater." She smiled, and added: "I didn't mean that to sound as preachy asit does."

"I'm afraid you make too much of a small thing. My squeamishness hasprobably made me the laughing-stock of Mesa."

"If so, that is to the discredit of Mesa," she insisted stanchly. "But Idon't think so. A great many people who couldn't have done it themselveswill think more of you for having done it."

Another pony, which had been slithering down the steep trail in the midstof a small rock slide, now brought its rider safely to a halt in the road.Virginia introduced them, and Hobart, remembered that he had heard MissBalfour speak of a young woman whom she had met on the way out, a MissLaska Lowe, who was coming to Mesa to teach domestic science in the publicschools. There was something about the young teacher's looks that he liked,though she was of a very different type than Virginia. Not at all pretty inany accepted sense, she yet had a charm born of the vital honesty in her.She looked directly at one out of sincere gray eyes, wide-awake andfearless. As it happened, her friend had been telling her about Hobart, andshe was interested in him from the first. For she was of that minoritywhich lives not by bread alone, and she felt a glow of pride in the man whocould do what the Sun had given this man credit for editorially.

They talked at haphazard for a few minutes before the young women canteredaway. As Hobart trudged homeward he knew that in the eyes of these twowomen, at least, he had not been a fool.

CHAPTER 14. A CONSPIRACY

Tucked away in an obscure corner of the same issue of the papers whichannounced the resignation of Lyndon Hobart as manager of the Consolidatedproperties, and the appointment of James K. Mott as his temporarysuccessor, were little one-stick paragraphs regarding explosions, which hadoccurred the night before in tunnels of the Taurus and the New York. Thegeneral public paid little attention to these, but those on the inside knewthat Ridgway had scored again. His spies had carried the news to him of theprojected capture of these two properties by the enemy. Instead ofattempting to defend them by force, he had set of charges of giant powderwhich had brought down the tunnel roofs and effectually blocked theentrances from the Consolidated mines adjoining.

With the indefatigable patience which characterized him, Harley set abouthaving the passages cleared of the rock and timber with which they werefilled. Before he had succeeded in doing this his enemy struck anothertelling blow. From Judge Purcell he secured an injunction against theConsolidated from working its mines, the Diamond King, the Mary K, and theMarcus Daly, on the absurd contention that the principal ore-vein of theMarcus Daly apexed on the tin, triangle wedged in between these three greatmines, and called by Ridgway the Trust Buster. Though there was not roomenough upon this fragment to sink a shaft, it was large enough to foundthis claim of a vein widening as it descended until it crossed into theterritory of each of these properties. Though Harley could ignore courtinjunctions which erected only under-ground territory, he was forced torespect this one, since it could not be violated except in the eyes of thewhole country. The three mines closed down, and several thousand workmenwere thrown out of employment. These were immediately reemployed by Ridgwayand set to work both in his own and the Consolidated's territory.

Within a week a dozen new suits were instituted against the Consolidated byits enemy. He harassed it by contempt proceedings, by applications forreceiverships, and by other ingenious devices, which greatly tormented theNew York operator. For the first time in his life the courts, which Harleyhad used to much advantage in his battles to maintain and extend the trustshe controlled, could not be used even to get scant justice.

Meanwhile both leaders were turning their attention to the politicalsituation. The legislators were beginning to gather for the coming session,and already the city was full of rumors about corruption. For both theConsolidated and its enemy were making every effort to secure enough votesto win the election of a friendly United States senator. The man chosenwould have the distribution of the federal patronage of the State. Thismeant the control of the most influential local politicians of the party inpower at Washington as well as their followers, an almost vital factor forsuccess in a State where political corruption had so interwoven itself intothe business life of the community.

The hotel lobbies were filled with politicians gathered from every countyin the State. Big bronzed cattlemen brushed shoulders with budding lawyersfrom country towns and ward bosses from the larger cities. The bars wereworking overtime, and the steady movement of figures in the corridorslasted all day and most of the night. Here and there were collected groups,laughing and talking about the old frontier days, or commenting in loweredtones on some phase of the feverish excitement that was already beginningto be apparent. Elevators shot up and down, subtracting and adding to thekaleidoscope of human life in the rotundas. Bellboys hurried to and frowith messages and cocktails. The ring of the telephone-bell cutoccasionally into the deep hum of many voices. All was confusion, keeninterest, expectancy.

For it was known that Simon Harley had sent for $300,000 in cold cash tosecure the election of his candidate, Roger D. Warner, a lawyer who had allhis life been close to corporate interests. It was known, too, that WaringRidgway had gathered together every element in the State that opposed thedomination of the Consolidated, to fight their man to a finish. Bets forlarge sums were offered and taken as to the result, heavy odds being givenin favor of the big copper trust's candidate. For throughout the State atlarge the Consolidated influence was very great indeed. It owned forestlands and railroads and mines. It controlled local transportation largely.Nearly one-half the working men in the State were in its employ. Into everytown and village the ramifications of its political organization extended.The feeling against it was very bitter, but this was usually expressed inwhispers. For it was in a position to ruin almost any business man uponwhom it fastened a grudge, and to make wealthy any upon whom it chose tocast its favors.

Nevertheless, there were some not so sure that the Consolidated wouldsucceed in electing its man. Since Ridgway had announced himself as acandidate there had been signs of defection on the part of some of thoseexpected to vote for Warner. He had skillfully wielded together inopposition to the trust all the elements of the State that were hostile toit; and already the word was being passed that he had not come to thecampaign without a barrel of his own.

The balloting for United States senator was not to begin until the eighthday of the session, but the opening week was full of a tense and suppressedexcitement. It was known that agents of both sides were moving to and froamong the representatives and State senators, offering fabulous prices fortheir votes and the votes of any others they might be able to control. Menwho had come to the capital confident in their strength and integrity nowlooked at their neighbors furtively and guiltily. Day by day thelegislators were being debauched to serve the interest of the factionswhich were fighting for control of the State. Night after night secretmeetings were being held in out-of-the-way places to seduce those who clungdesperately to their honesty or held out for a bigger price. Bribery was inthe air, rampant, unashamed. Thousand-dollar bills were as common asten-dollar notes in ordinary times.

Sam Yesler, commenting on the situation to his friend Jack Roper, a fellowmember of the legislature who had been a cattleman from the time he hadgiven up driving a stage thirty years before, shook his head dejectedlyover his blue points.

"I tell you, Jack, a man has to be bed-rocked in honesty or he's gone.Think of it. A country lawyer comes here who has never seen five thousanddollars in a lump sum, and they shove fifteen thousand at him for his vote.He is poor, ambitious, struggling along from hand to mouth. I reckon weain't in a position to judge that poor devil of a harassed fellow. Mebbehe's always been on the square, came here to do what was right, we'll say,but he sees corruption all round him. How can he help getting a warpednotion of things? He sees his friends and his neighbors falling by thewayside. By God, it's got to the point in this legislature that an honestman's an object of obloquy."

"That's right," agreed Roper. "Easy enough for us to be square. We got goodranches back of us and can spend the winter playing poker at the Mesa Clubif we feel like it. But if we stood where Billy George and Garner andRoberts and Munz do, I ain't so damn sure my virtue would stand the strain.Can you reach that salt, Sam?"

"Billy George has got a sick wife, and he's been wanting to send her backto her folks in the East, but he couldn't afford it. The doctors figuredshe ought to stay a year, and Billy would have to hire a woman to take careof his kids. I said to him: 'Hell, Billy, what's a friend for?' And Ishoves a check at him. He wouldn't look at it; said he didn't know whetherhe could ever pay it, and he had not come down to charity yet."

"Billy's a white man. That's what makes me sick. Right on top of all hisbad luck he comes here and sees that everybody is getting a big roll. Hethinks of that white-faced wife of his dragging herself round among thekids and dying by inches for lack of what money can buy her. I tell you Idon't blame him. It's the fellows putting the temptation up to him thatought to be strung up."

"I see that hound Pelton's mighty active in it. He's got it in for Ridgwaysince Waring threw him down, and he's plugging night and day for Warner.Stays pretty well tanked up. Hoppertells me he's been making threats to kill Waring on sight."

"I heard that and told Waring. He laughed and said he hoped he would livetill Pelton killed him. I like Waring. He's got the guts, as his minerssay. But he's away off on this fight. He's using money right and left justas Harley is."

Yesler nodded. "The whole town's corrupted. It takes bribery for granted.Men meet on the street and ask what the price of votes is this morning.Everybody feels prosperous."

"I heard that a chambermaid at the Quartzite Hotel found seven thousanddollars in big bills pinned to the bottom of a mattress in Garner's roomyesterday. He didn't dare bank it, of course."

"Poor devil! He's another man that would like to be honest, but with thewhole place impregnated with bribery he couldn't stand the pressure. Butafter this is all over he'll go home to his wife and his neighbors with thecanker of this thing at his heart until he dies. I tell you, Jack, I'm forstopping it if we can."

"How?"

"There's one way. I've been approached indirectly by Pelton, to deliver ourvote to the Consolidated. Suppose we arrange to do it, get evidence, andmake a public exposure."

They were alone in a private dining-room of a restaurant, but Yesler'svoice had fallen almost to a whisper. With his steady gray eyes he lookedacross at the man who had ridden the range with him fifteen years ago whenhe had not had a sou to bless himself with.

Roper tugged at his long drooping mustache and gazed at his friend. "It's alarge order, Sam, a devilish large order. Do you reckon we could deliver?"

"I think so. There are six of us that will stand pat at any cost. If weplay our cards right and keep mum the surprise of it is bound to shakevotes loose when we spring the bomb. The whole point is whether we can takeadvantage of that surprise to elect a decent man. I don't say it can bedone, but there's a chance of it."

The old stage-driver laughed softly. "We'll be damned good and plenty byboth sides."

"Of course. It won't be a pleasant thing to do, but then it isn't exactlypleasant to sit quiet and let these factions use the State as a pawn intheir game of grab."

"I'm with you, Sam. Go to it, my boy, and I'll back you to the limit."

"We had better not talk it over here. Come to my room after dinner andbring Landor and James with you. I'll have Reedy and Keller there. I'llmention casually that it's a big game of poker, and I'll have cards anddrinks sent up. You want to remember we can't be too careful. If it leaksout we lose."

"I'm a clam, Sam. Do you want I should speak of it to Landor and James?"

"Better wait till we get together."

"What about Ward? He's always been with us."

"He talks too much. We can take him in at the last minute if we like."

"That would be better. I ain't so sure about Reedy, either. He's straightas a string, of course; not a crooked hair in his head. But when he gets todrinking he's likely to let things out."

"You're right. We'll leave him out, too, until the last minute. There'sanother thing I've thought of. Ridgway can't win. At least I don't see howhe can control more than twenty five votes. Suppose at the very last momentwe make a deal with him and with the Democrats to pool our votes on somesquare man. With Waring it's anything to beat the Consolidated. He'll jumpat the chance if he's sure he is out of the running himself. Those of theDemocrats that Harley can't buy will be glad to beat his man. I don't sayit can be done, Jack. All I say is that it is worth a trial."

"You bet."

They met that night in Yesler's rooms round a card-table. The hands weredealt for form's sake, since there were spies everywhere, and it wasnecessary to ring for cigars and refreshments occasionally to avoidsuspicion. They were all cattlemen, large or small, big outdoors sunburnedmen, who rode the range in the spring and fall with their punchers andasked no odds of any man.

Until long past midnight they talked the details over, and when theyseparated in the small hours it was with a well-defined plan to save theState from its impending disgrace if the thing could be done.

CHAPTER 15. LASKA OPENS A DOOR

The first ballots for a United States senator taken by the legislature injoint session failed to disclose the alignment of some of the doubtfulmembers. The Democratic minority of twenty-eight votes were cast forSpringer, the senator whose place would be taken by whoever should win inthe contest now on. Warner received forty-four, Ridgway twenty-six, eightwent to Pascom, a former governor whom the cattlemen were supporting, andthe remaining three were scattered. Each day one ballot was taken, and fora week there was a slight sifting down of the complimentary votes until atthe end of it the count stood:

Warner 45Ridgway 28Springer 28Pascom 8

Warner still lacked ten votes of an election, but It was pretty thoroughlyunderstood that several of the Democratic minority were waiting only longenough for a colorable excuse to switch to him. All kinds of rumors were inthe air as to how many of these there were. The Consolidated leaders boldlyclaimed that they had only to give the word to force the election of theircandidate on any ballot. Yesler did not believe this claim could bejustified, since Pelton and Harley were already negotiating with him forthe delivery of the votes belonging to the cattlemen's contingent.

He had held off for some time with hints that it would take a lot of moneyto swing the votes of such men as Roper and Landor, but he had finally cometo an agreement that the eight votes should be given to Warner for aconsideration of $300,000. This was to be paid to Yesler in the presence ofthe other seven members on the night before the election, and was to beheld in escrow by him and Roper until the pact was fulfilled, the money tobe kept in a safety deposit vault with a key in possession of each of thetwo.

On the third day of the session, before the voting had begun, StephenEaton, who was a State senator from Mesa, moved that a committee beappointed to investigate the rumors of bribery that were so common. Themotion caught the Consolidated leaders napping, for this was the last manthey had expected to propose such a course, and it went through with littleopposition, as a similar motion did in the House at the same time. Thelieutenant-governor and the speaker of the House were both opposed toWarner, and the joint committee had on it the names of no Consolidated men.The idea of such a committee had originated with Ridgway, and had beenmerely a bluff to show that he at least was willing that the world shouldknow the whole story of the election. Nor had this committee held evenformal meetings before word reached Eaton through Yesler that if it wouldappoint a conference in some very private place, evidence would besubmitted implicating agents of the Warner forces in attempts at bribery.

It was close to eleven o'clock when Sam Yesler stepped quietly from a sidedoor of his hotel and slipped into the street. He understood perfectly thatin following the course he did, he was taking his life in his hands. Theexposure of the bribery traffic would blast forever the reputations of manymen who had hitherto held a high place in the community, and he knew thetemper of some of them well enough to be aware that an explosion wasprobable. Spies had been dogging him ever since the legislature convened.Within an hour one of them would be flying to Pelton with the news that hewas at a meeting of the committee, and all the thugs of the other sidewould be turned loose on his heels. As he walked briskly through thestreets toward the place appointed, his hand lay on the hilt of a revolverin the outside pocket of his overcoat. He was a man who would neither seektrouble nor let it overwhelm him. If his life were attempted, he meant todefend it to the last.

He followed side streets purposely, and his footsteps echoed along thedeserted road. He knew he was being dogged, for once, when he glanced back,he caught sight of a skulking figure edging along close to a wall. Thesight of the spy stirred his blood. Grimly he laughed to himself. Theymight murder him for what he was doing, but not in time to save theexposure which would be brought to light on the morrow.

The committee met at a road-house near the outskirts of the city, but onlylong enough to hear Yesler's facts and to appoint another meeting for threehours later at the offices of Eaton. For the committee had come here forsecrecy, and they knew that it would be only a short time before Pelton'sheelers would be down upon them in force. It was agreed they should divideand slip quietly back to town, wait until everything was quiet and conveneagain. Meanwhile Eaton would make arrangements to see that his officeswould be sufficiently guarded for protection against any attack.

Yesler walked back to town and was within a couple of blocks of his hotelwhen he glimpsed two figures crouching against the fence of the alley. Hestopped in his tracks, watched them intently an instant, and was startledby a whistle from the rear. He knew at once his retreat, too, was cut off,and without hesitation vaulted the fence in front of a big gray stone househe was passing. A revolver flashed from the alley, and he laughed with astrange kind of delight. His thought was to escape round the house, buttrellis work barred the way, and he could not open the gate.

"Trapped, by Jove," he told himself coolly as a bullet struck the trellisclose to his head.

He turned back, ran up the steps of the porch and found momentary safety inthe darkness of its heavy vines. But this he knew could not last. Runningfigures were converging toward him at a focal point. He could hear oathsand cries. Some one was throwing aimless shots from a revolver at theporch.

He heard a window go up in the second story and a woman's frightened voiceask. "What is it? Who is there?"

"Let me in. I'm ambushed by thugs," he called back.

"There he is--in the doorway," a voice cried out of the night, and it wasfollowed by a spatter of bullets about him.

He fired at a man leaping the fence. The fellow tumbled back with a kind ofscream.

"God! I'm hit."

He could hear steps coming down the stairway and fingers fumbling at thekey of the door. His attackers were gathering for a rush, and he wonderedwhether the rescue was to be too late. They came together, the opening doorand the forward pour of huddled figures. He stepped back into the hall.

There was a raucous curse, a shot, and Yesler had slammed the door shut. Hewas alone in the darkness with his rescuer.

"We must get out of here. They're firing through the door," he said, and"Yes" came faintly back to him from across the hall.

"Do you know where the switch is?" he asked, wondering whether she wasgoing to be such an idiot as to faint at this inopportune moment.

His answer came in a flood of light, and showed him a young woman crouchedon the hall-rack a dozen feet from the switch. She was very white, andthere was a little stain of crimson on the white lace of her sleeve.

A voice from the landing above demanded quickly, "Who are you, sir?" andafter he had looked up', cried in surprise, "Mr. Yesler."

He was already beside his rescuer. She looked at him with a trace of atired smile and said:

"In my arm."

After which she fainted. He picked up the young woman, carried her to thestairs, and mounted them.

"This way," said Virginia, leading him into a bedroom, the door of whichwas open.

He observed with surprise that she, too, was dressed in evening clothes,and rightly surmised that they had just come back from some socialfunction.

"Is it serious?" asked Virginia, when he had laid his burden on the bed.

She was already clipping with a pair of scissors the sleeve from round thewound.

"It ought not to be," he said after he had examined it. "The bullet hasscorched along the fleshy part of the forearm. We must telephone for adoctor at once."

She did so, then found water and cotton for bandages, and helped him make atemporary dressing. The patient recovered consciousness under the touch ofthe cold water, and asked: what was the matter.

"You have been hurt a little, but not badly I think. Don't you remember?You came down and opened the door to let me in."

"They were shooting at you. What for?" she wanted to know.

He smiled. "Don't worry about that. It's all over with. I'm sorry you werehurt in saving me," said Yesler gently.

"Did I save you?" The gray eyes showed a gleam of pleasure.

"You certainly did."

"This is Mr. Yesler, Laska. Mr. Yesler--Miss Lowe. I think you have nevermet."

"Never before to-night," he said, pinning the bandage in place round theplump arm. "There. That's all just now, ma'am. Did I hurt you very much?"

The young woman felt oddly exhilarated. "Not much. I'll forgive you ifyou'll tell me all about the affair. Why did they want to hurt you?"

His big heart felt very tender toward this girl who had been wounded forhim, but he showed it only by a smiling deference.

"You're right persistent, ma'am. You hadn't ought to be bothering your headabout any such thing, but if you feel that way I'll be glad to tell you."

He did. While they sat there and waited for the coming of the doctor, hetold her the whole story of his attempt to stop the corruption that waseating like a canker at the life of the State. He was a plain man, not inthe least eloquent, and he told his story without any sense that he hadplayed any unusual part. In fact, he was ashamed that he had been forced toassume a role which necessitated a kind of treachery to those who thoughtthey had bought him.

Laska Lowe's eyes shone with the delight his tale inspired in her. Shelived largely in the land of ideals, and this fight against wrong moved hermightily. She could feel for him none of the shame which he felt forhimself at being mixed up in so bad a business. He was playing a man'spart, had chosen it at risk of his life. That was enough. In every fiber ofher, she was glad that good fortune had given her the chance to bear a partof the battle. In her inmost heart she was even glad that to the day of herdeath she must bear the scar that would remind her she had suffered in sogood a cause.

Virginia, for once obliterating herself, perceived how greatly taken theywere with each other. At bottom, nearly every woman is a match-maker. Thisone was no exception. She liked both this man and this woman, and her fancyhad already begun to follow her hopes. Never before had Laska appeared toshow much interest in any of the opposite sex with whom her friend had seenher. Now she was all enthusiasm, had forgotten completely the pain of herwound in the spirit's glow.

"She loved me for the danger I had pass'd, And I loved her that she did pity them. This only is the witchcraft I have us'd.'"

Virginia quoted softly to herself, her eyes on the young woman so finelyunconscious of the emotion that thrilled her.

Not until the clock in the hall below struck two did Yesler remember hisappointment in the Ridgway Building. The doctor had come and was about togo. He suggested that if Yesler felt it would be safe for him to go, theymight walk across to the hotel together.

"And leave us alone." Laska could have bitten her tongue after the wordswere out.

Virginia explained. "The Leighs are out of the city to-night, and ithappens that even the servants are gone. I asked Miss Lowe to stay with meall night, but, of course, she feels feverish and nervous after thisexcitement. Couldn't you send a man to watch the rest of the night out inthe house?"

"You might have your meeting here. It is neutral ground. I can phone to Mr.Ridgway," proposed Virginia in a low voice to Yesler.

"Doesn't that seem to imply that I'm afraid to leave?" laughed Yesler.

"It implies that we are afraid to have you. Laska would worry both on youraccount and our own. I think you owe it to her to stay."

"Oh, if that's the way it strikes you," he agreed. "Fact is, I don't quitelike to leave you anyhow. We'll take Leigh's study. I don't think we shalldisturb you at all."

"I'm sure you won't--and before you go, you'll let us know what you havedecided to do."

"We shall not be through before morning. You'll be asleep by then," he madeanswer.

"No, I couldn't sleep till I know all about it."

"Nor I," agreed Laska. "I want to know all about everything."

"My dear young lady, you are to take the sleeping-powders and get a goodrest," the doctor demurred. "All about everything is too large an order foryour good just now."

Virginia nodded in a businesslike way. "Yes, you're to go to sleep, Laska,and when you waken I'll tell you all about it."

"That would be better," smiled Yesler, and Virginia thought it significantthat her friend made no further protest.

Gray streaks began to show in the sky before Yesler tapped on the door ofVirginia's room. She had discarded the rather elaborate evening gown he hadlast seen her in, and was wearing some soft fabric which hung from theshoulders in straight lines, and defined the figure while lending theeffect of a loose and flowing drapery.

"How is your patient?" he asked.

"She has dropped into a good sleep," the girl whispered. "I am sure wedon't need to worry about her at all."

"Nevertheless, it's a luxury I'm going to permit myself for a day or two,"he smiled. "I don't have my life saved by a young lady very often."

"I'm sure you will enjoy worrying about her," she laughed.

He got back at her promptly. "There's somebody down-stairs worrying aboutyou. He wants to know if there is anything he can do for you, and suggestsinviting himself for breakfast in order to make sure."

"Mr. Ridgway?"

"How did you guess it first crack? Mr. Ridgway it is."

She considered a moment. "Yes, tell him to stay. Molly will be back in timeto make breakfast, and I want to talk to him. Now tell me what you did."

"We did Mr. Warner. At least I hope so," he chuckled.

"I'm so glad. And who is to be senator? Is it Waring?"

"No. It wouldn't have been possible to elect him even if we had wanted to."

"And you didn't want to," she flashed.

"No, we didn't," he admitted frankly. "We couldn't afford to have itgenerally understood that this was merely a partisan fight on theConsolidated, and that we were pulling Waring's chestnuts out of the firefor him."

He did not add, though he might have, that Ridgway was tarred with the samebrush as the enemy in this matter.

"Then who is it to be?"

"That's a secret. I can't tell even you that. But we have agreed on a man.Waring is to withdraw and throw his influence for him. The Democraticminority will swing in line for him, and we'll do the rest. That's theplan. It may not go through, however."

"I don't see who it can be that you all unite on. Of course, it isn't Mr.Pelton?"

"I should hope not."

"Or Mr. Samuel Yesler?"

"You've used up all the guesses allowed you. If you want to know, why don'tyou attend the joint session to-day? It ought to be highly interesting."

"I shall," she announced promptly. "And I'll bring Laska with me."

"She won't be able to come."

"I think she will. It's only a scratch."

"I don't like to think how much worse it might have been."

"Then don't think of it. Tell Waring I'll be down presently."

He went down-stairs again, and Miss Balfour returned to the room.

"Was that Mr. Yesler?" quietly asked a voice from the bed.

"Yes, dear. He has gone back to the hotel. He asked about you, of course."

"He is very kind."

"It was thoughtful, since you only saved his life," admitted the ironicalMiss Balfour.

"Wasn't it fortunate that we were up?"

"Very fortunate for him that you were."

Virginia crossed the room to the bed and kissed her friend with some subtlesignificance too elusive for words. Laska appeared, however to appreciateit. At least, she blushed.

CHAPTER 16. AN EXPLOSION IN THE TAURUS

The change of the relationship between Ridgway and his betrothed, broughtabout by the advent of a third person into his life, showed itself in themanner of their greeting. She had always been chary of lovers'demonstrations, but until his return from Alpine he had been wont to exacthis privilege in spite of her reluctance. Now he was content with the handshe offered him.

"You've had a strenuous night of it," he said, after a glance at the ratherwan face she offered the new day.

"Yes, we have--and for that matter, I suppose you have, too."

Man of iron that he was, he looked fresh as morning dew. With his usuallack of self-consciousness, he had appropriated Leigh's private bath, andwas glowing from contact with ice-cold water and a crash towel.

"We've been making history," he agreed. "How's your friend?"

"She has no fever at all. It was only a scratch. She will be down tobreakfast in a minute."

"Good. She must be a thoroughbred to come running down into the bullets fora stranger she has never seen."

"She is. You'll like Laska."

"I'm glad she saved Sam from being made a colander. I can't help likinghim, though he doesn't approve of me very much."

"I suppose not."

"He is friendly, too." Ridgway laughed as he recalled their battle over whoshould be the nominee. "But his conscience rules him. It's a free andliberal conscience, generally speaking--nothing Puritan about it, but adistinctive product of the West. Yet, he would not have me for senator atany price."

"Why?"

"Didn't think I was fit to represent the people; said if I went in, itwould be to use the office for my personal profit."

"Wasn't he right?"

"More or less. If I were elected, I would build up my machine, of course,but I would see the people got a show, too."

She nodded agreement. "I don't think you would make a bad senator."

"I would be a live wire, anyhow. Sam had other objections to me. He thoughtI had been using too much money in this campaign."

"And have you?" she asked, curious to see how he would defend himself.

"Yes. I had to if I were going to stand any chance. It wasn't from choice.I didn't really want to be senator. I can't afford to give the time to it,but I couldn't afford to let Harley name the man either. I was between thedevil and the deep sea."

"Then, really, Mr. Yesler came to your rescue."

"That's about it, though he didn't intend it that way."

"And who is to be the senator?"

He gave her a cynical smile. "Warner."

"But I thought--why, surely he--" The surprise of his cool announcementtook her breath away.

"No, he isn't the man our combination decided on, but the trouble is thatour combination is going to fall through. Sam's an optimist, but you'll seeI'm right. There are too many conflicting elements of us in one boat. Wecan't lose three votes and win, and it's a safe bet we lose them. TheConsolidated must know by this time what we have been about all night.They're busy now sapping at our weak links. Our only chance is to win onthe first vote, and I am very sure we won't be able to do it."

"0h, I hope you are not right." A young woman was standing in the doorway,her arm in a sling. She had come in time to hear his prophesy, and in thedisappointment of it had forgotten that he was a stranger.

Virginia remedied this, and they went in to breakfast. Laska was full ofinterest, and poured out eager questions at Ridgway. It was not for severalminutes that Virginia recollected to ask again who was the man they haddecided upon.

Her betrothed found some inner source of pleasure that brought out asardonic smile. "He's a slap in the face at both Harley and me."

"I can't think who--is he honest?"

"As the day."

"And capable?"

"Oh, yes. He's competent enough."

"Presentable?"

"Yes. He'll do the State credit, or rather he would if he were going to beelected."

"Then I give it up."

He was leaning forward to tell, when the sharp buzz of the electricdoor-bell, continued and sustained, diverted the attention of all of them.

Ridgway put down his napkin. "Probably some one to see me."

He had risen to his feet when the maid opened the door of the dining-room.

"A gentleman to see Mr. Ridgway. He says it is very important."

From the dining-room they could hear the murmur of quick voices, and soonRidgway returned. He was a transformed man. His eyes were hard as diamonds,and there was the bulldog look of the fighter about his mouth and chin.

"What is it, Waring?" cried Virginia.

"Trouble in the mines. An hour ago Harley's men rushed the Taurus and theNew York, and drove my men out. One of my shift-foremen and two of hisdrillers were killed by an explosion set off by Mike Donleavy, a foreman inthe Copper King."

"Did they mean to kill them?" asked the girl whitely.

"I suppose not. But they took the chance. It's murder just the same--byJove, it's a club with which to beat the legislators into line."

He stopped, his brain busy solving the problem as to how he might best turnthis development to his own advantage. Part of his equipment was hisability to decide swiftly and surely issues as they came to him. Now hestrode to the telephone and began massing his forces.

"Main 234--Yes--Yes--This the Sun?--

Give me Brayton--Hello, Brayton. Get out a special edition at once chargingHarley with murder. Run the word as a red headline clear across the page.Show that Vance Edwards and the other boys were killed while on duty by anattack ordered by Harley. Point out that this is the logical result of hiscourse. Don't mince words. Give it him right from the shoulder. Rush it,and be sure a copy of the paper is on the desk of every legislator beforethe session opens this morning. Have a reliable man there to see that everyman gets one. Scatter the paper broadcast among the miners, too. This isimportant."

He hung up the receiver, took it down again, and called up Eaton.

"Hello! This you, Steve? Send for Trelawney and Straus right away. Get themto call a mass meeting of the unions for ten o'clock at the courthousesquare. Have dodgers printed and distributed announcing it. Shut down allour mines so that the men can come. I want Straus and Trelawney and two orthree of the other prominent labor leaders to denounce Harley and lay theresponsibility for this thing right at his door. I'll be up there andoutline what they had better say."

He turned briskly round to the young women, his eyes shining with a hardbright light. "I'm sorry, but I have got to cut out breakfast this morning.Business is piling up on me too fast. If you'll excuse me, I'll go now."

"What are you going to do?" asked Virginia.

"I haven't time to tell you now. Just watch my smoke," he laughed withoutmirth.

No sooner did the news of the tragedy reach Simon Harley than he knew themistake of his subordinates would be a costly one. The foreman, Donleavy,who had directed the attack on the Taurus, had to be brought from theshafthouse under the protection of a score of Pinkerton detectives tosafeguard him from the swift vengeance of the miners, who needed but a wordto fling themselves against the cordon of police. Harley himself kept hisapartments, the hotel being heavily patrolled by guards on the lookout forsuspicious characters. The current of public opinion, never in his favor,now ran swiftly against him, and threats were made openly by the infuriatedminers to kill him on sight.

The members of the unions came to the massmeeting reading the story of thetragedy as the Sun colored the affair. They stayed sullenly to listen tored-hot speeches against the leader of the trust, and gradually the wrathwhich was simmering in them began to boil. Ridgway, always with a keensense of the psychological moment, descended the court-house steps just asthis fury was at its height. There were instant cries for a speech from himso persistent that he yielded, though apparently with reluctance. His finepresence and strong deep voice soon gave him the ears of all that densethrong. He was far out of the ordinary as a public speaker, and within afew minutes he had his audience with him. He deprecated any violence; spokestrongly for letting the law take its course; and dropped a suggestion thatthey send a committee to the State-house to urge that Harley's candidate bedefeated for the senatorship.

Like wild-fire this hint spread. Here was something tangible they could dothat was still within the law. Harley had set his mind on electing Warner.They would go up there in a body and defeat his plans. Marshals and leadersof companies were appointed. They fell into ranks by fours, nearly tenthousand of them all told. The big clock in the court-house was strikingtwelve when they began their march to the Statehouse.

CHAPTER 17. THE ELECTION

At the very moment that the tramp of twenty thousand feet turned toward theState-house, the report of the bribery investigating committee was beingread to the legislature met in joint session. The committee reported thatit had examined seven witnesses, Yesler, Roper, Landor, James, Reedy,Kellor, and Ward, and that each of then had testified that formerCongressman Pelton or others had approached him on behalf of Warner; thatan agreement had been made by which the eight votes being cast for Bascomwould be give to Warner in consideration of $300,000 in cash, to be held inescrow by Yesler, and that the committee now had the said package, supposedto contain the bills for that amount, in its possession, and was preparedto turn it over to the legislature for examination.

Except for the clerk's voice, as he read the report, a dead silence laytensely over the crowded hall. Men dared not look at their neighbors,scarce dared breathe, for the terror that hung heavy on their hearts.Scores were there who expected their guilt to be blazoned forth for all theworld to read. They waited whitely as the monotonous voice of the clerkwent from paragraph to paragraph, and when at last he sat down, havingnamed only the bribers and not the receivers of bribes, a long deep sigh ofrelief swept the house. Fear still racked them, but for the moment theywere safe. Furtively their glances began to go from one to another of theirneighbors and ask for how long safety would endure.

One could have heard the rustle of a leaf as the chairman of the committeestepped forward and laid on the desk of the presiding officer theincriminating parcel. It seemed an age while the chief clerk opened it,counted the bills, and announced that one hundred thousand dollars was thesum contained within.

Stephen Eaton then rose in his seat and presented quietly his resolution,that since the evidence submitted was sufficient to convict of bribery, thejudge of the district court of the County of Mesa be requested to call aspecial session of the grand jury to investigate the report. It was notuntil Sam Yesler rose to speak upon that report that the pent-up stormbroke loose.

He stood there in the careless garb of the cattleman, a strong clean-cutfigure as one would see in a day's ride, facing with unflinching steel-blueeyes the tempest of human passion he had evoked. The babel of voices roseand fell and rose again before he could find a chance to make himselfheard. In the gallery two quietly dressed young, women, one of them withher arm in a sling, leaned forward breathlessly and waited Laska's eyesglowed with deep fire. She was living her hour of hours, and the man whostood with such quiet courage the focus of that roar of rage was the heroof it.

"You call me Judas, and I ask you what Christ I have betrayed. You call metraitor, but traitor to what? Like you, I am under oath to receive nocompensation for my services here other than that allowed by law. To thatoath I have been true. Have you?

"For many weeks we have been living in a carnival of bribery, in adebauched hysteria of money-madness. The souls of men have been sifted asby fire. We have all been part and parcel of a man-hunt, an eager, furious,persistent hunt that has relaxed neither night nor day. The lure of goldhas been before us every waking hour, and has pursued us into our dreams.The temptation has been ever-present. To some it has been irresistible, tosome maddening, to others, thank God! it has but proved their strength. Ourhopes, our fears, our loves, our hates: these seducers of honor havepandered to them all. Our debts and our business, our families and ourfriendships, have all been used to hound us. To-day I put the stigma forthis shame where it belongs--upon Simon Harley, head of the Consolidatedand a score of other trusts, and upon Waring Ridgway, head of the MesaOre-producing Company. These are the debauchers of our commonwealth's fairname, and you, alas! the traffickers who hope to live upon its virtue. Icall upon you to-day to pass this resolution and to elect a man to theUnited States senate who shall owe no allegiance to any power except thepeople, or to receive forever the brand of public condemnation. Are youfree men? Or do you wear the collar of the Consolidated, the yoke of WaringRidgway? The vote which you will cast to-day is an answer that shall goflying to the farthest corner of your world, an answer you can never hopeto change so long as you live."

He sat down in a dead silence. Again men drew counsel from their fears. Theresolution passed unanimously, for none dared vote against it lest he brandhimself as bought and sold.

It was in this moment, while the hearts of the guilty were like water, thatthere came from the lawn outside the roar of a multitude of voices. Swiftlythe word passed that ten thousand miner had come to see that Warner was notelected. That they were in a dangerous frame of mind, all knew. It was apassionate undisciplined mob and to thwart them would have been to invite ariot.

Under these circumstances the joint assembly proceeded to ballot for asenator. The first name called was that of Adams. He was an old cattlemanand a Democrat.

"Before voting, I want to resign my plate a few moments to Mr. Landor, ofKit Carson County," he said.

Landor was recognized, a big broad-shouldered plainsman with a leatheryface as honest as the sun. He was known and liked by everybody, even bythose opposed to him.

"I'm going to make a speech," he announced with the broad smile that showeda flash of white teeth. "I reckon it'll be the first I ever made here, andI promise it will be the last, boys. But I won't keep you long, either. Youall know how things have been going; how men have been moving in and outand buying men here like as if they were cattle on the hoof. You've seenit, and I've seen it. But we didn't have the nerve to say it should stop.One man did. He's the biggest man in this big State to-day, and it ain'tbeen five minutes since I heard you hollar your lungs out cursing him. Youknow who I mean--Sam Yesler."

He waited till the renewed storm of cheers and hisses had died away.

"It don't do him any harm for you to hollar at him, boys--not a mite. Iwant to say to you that he's a man. He saw our old friends falling by thewayside and some of you poor weaklings selling yourselves for dollars.Because he is an honest, game man, he set out to straighten things up. Iwant to tell you that my hat's off to Sam Yesler.

"But that ain't what I rose for. I'm going to name for the United Statessenate a clean man, one who doesn't wear either the Harley or the Ridgwaybrand. He's as straight as a string, not a crooked hair in his head, andevery manjack of you knows it. I'm going to name a man"--he stopped aninstant to smile genially around upon the circle of uplifted faces--"whoisn't any friend of either one faction or another, a man who has just hadindependence enough to quit a big job because it wasn't on the square. Thatman's name is Lyndon Hobart. If you want to do yourselves proud, gentlemen,you'll certainly elect him."

If it was a sensation he had wanted to create, he had it. The Warner forceswere taken with dumb surprise. But many of them were already swiftlythinking it would be the best way out of a bad business. He would beconservative, as fair to the Consolidated as to the enemy. More, just nowhis election would appeal to the angry mob howling outside the building,for they could ask nothing more than the election of the man who hadresigned rather than order the attack on the Taurus, which had resulted inthe death of some of their number.

Hoyle, of the Democrats, seconded the nomination, as also did Eaton, in aspeech wherein he defended the course of Ridgway and withdrew his name.

Within a few minutes of the time that Eaton sat down, the roll had beencalled and Hobart elected by a vote of seventy-three to twenty-four, theothers refusing to cast a ballot.

The two young women, sitting together in the front row of the gallery, wereglowing with triumphant happiness. Virginia was still clapping her handswhen a voice behind her suggested that the circumstances did not warranther being so happy over the result. She turned, to see Waring Ridgwaysmiling down at her.

"But I can't help being pleased. Wasn't Mr. Yesler magnificent?"

"Sam was all right, though he might have eased up a bit when he pitchedinto me."

"He had to do that to be fair. Everybody knows you and he are friends. Ithink it was fine of him not to let that make any difference in his tellingthe truth."

"Oh, I knew it would please you," her betrothed laughed. "What do you sayto going out to lunch with me? I'll get Sam, too, if I can."

The young women consulted eyes and agreed very readily. Both of themenjoyed being so near to the heart of things.

"If Mr. Yesler will lunch with the debaucher of the commonwealth, we shallbe very happy to join the party," said Virginia demurely.

Ridgway led them down to the floor of the House. Through the dense throngthey made their way slowly toward him, Ridgway clearing a path with hisbroad shoulders.

Suddenly they heard him call sharply, "Look out, Sam."

The explosion of a revolver followed sharply his words. Ridgway divedthrough the press, tossing men to right and left of him as a steamyachtdoes the waves. Through the open lane he left in his wake, the young womencaught the meaning of the turmoil: the crumpled figure was Yesler swayinginto the arms of his friend, Roper, the furious drink-flushed face ofPelton and the menace of the weapon poised for a second shot, the swiftimpact of Waring's body, and the blow which sent the next bullet crashinginto the chandelier overhead. All this they glimpsed momentarily before thepress closed in on the tragic scene and cut off their view.

CHAPTER 18. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS

While Harley had been in no way responsible for Pelton's murderous attackupon Yesler, public opinion held him to account. The Pinkertons who had, uptill this time, been employed at the mines, were now moved to the hotel tobe ready for an emergency. A special train was held in readiness to takethe New Yorker out of the State in the event that the stockman should die.Meanwhile, the harassing attacks of Ridgway continued. Through anotherjudge than Purcell, the absurd injunction against working the Diamond King,the Mary K, and the Marcus Daly had been dissolved, but even this advantagehad been neutralized by the necessity of giving back to the enemy theTaurus and the New York, of which he had just possessed himself. All hislife he had kept a wheather-eye upon the impulsive and fickle public. Therewere times when its feeling could be abused with impunity, and other timeswhen this must be respected. Reluctantly, Harley gave the word for thewithdrawal of his men from the territory gained. Ridgway pushed hisadvantage home and secured an injunction, not only against the working, butagainst the inspection of the Copper King and the Jim Hill. The result ofthe Consolidated move had been in effect to turn over, temporarily, its tworich mines to be looted by the pirate, and to make him very much strongerthan before with his allies, the unions. By his own imprudence, Harley hadmade a bad situation worse, and delivered himself, with his hands tied,into the power of the enemy.

In the days of turmoil that followed, Waring Ridgway's telling blows scoredonce and again. The morning after the explosion, he started a relief fundin his paper, the Sun, for the families of the dead miners, contributingtwo thousand dollars himself. He also insisted that the Consolidated paydamages to the bereaved families to the extent of twenty thousand dollarsfor each man killed. The town rang with his praises. Mesa had always beenproud of his success; had liked the democratic spirit of him that led himto mix on apparently equal terms with his working men, and had backed himin his opposition to the trust because his plucky and unscrupulous fighthad been, in a measure, its fight. But now it idolized him. He was thebuffer between it and the trust, fighting the battles of labor against thegreat octopus of Broadway, and beating it to a standstill. He was the Mosesdestined to lead the working man out of the Egypt of his discontent. Had henot maintained the standard of wages and forced the Consolidated to do thesame? Had he not declared an eight-hour day, and was not the trust almostready to do this also, forced by the impetus his example had given theunions? So Ridgway's agents whispered, and the union leaders, whom he hadbought, took up the burden of their tale and preached it both in privatetalk and in their speeches.

In an attempt to stem the rising tide of denunciation that was spreadingfrom Mesa to the country at large, Harley announced an eight hour day andan immense banquet to all the Consolidated employees in celebration of theoccasion. Ten thousand men sat down to the long tables, but when one of thespeakers injudiciously mentioned the name of Ridgway, there was steadycheering for ten minutes. It was quite plain that the miners gave him thecredit for having forced the Consolidated to the eight-hour day.

The verdict of the coroner's jury was that Vance Edwards and the otherdeceased miners had come to their death at the hands of the foreman,Michael Donleavy, at the instigation of Simon Harley. True bills were atonce drawn up by the prosecuting attorney of Mesa County, an officialelected by Ridgway, charging Harley and Donleavy with conspiracy, resultingin the murder of Vance Edwards. The billionaire furnished bail for himselfand foreman, treating the indictments merely as part of the attacks of theenemy.

The tragedy in the Taurus brought to the surface a bitterness that hadhitherto not been apparent in the contest between the rival copperinterests. The lines of division became more sharply drawn, and everybusiness man in Mesa was forced to declare himself on one side or theother. Harley scattered detectives broadcast and imported five hundredPinkertons to meet any emergency that might arise. The spies of theConsolidated were everywhere, gathering evidence against the MesaOre-producing Company, its conduct of the senatorial campaign, its judges,and its supporters Criminal indictments flew back and forth thick assnowflakes in a Christmas storm.

It began to be noticed that an occasional foreman, superintendent, ormining engineer was slipping from the employ of Ridgway to that of thetrust, carrying secrets and evidence that would be invaluable later in thecourts. Everywhere the money of the Consolidated, scattered lavishly whereit would do the most good, attempted to sap the loyalty of the followers ofthe other candidates. Even Eaton was approached with the offer of a bribe.

But Ridgway's potent personality had built up an esprit de corps noteasily to be broken. The adventurers gathered to his side were, for themost part, bound to him by ties personal in their nature. They werefinancial fillibusters, pledged to stand or fall together, with an interestin their predatory leader's success that was not entirely measurable indollars and cents. Nor was that leader the man to allow the organization hehad builded with such care to become disintegrated while he slept. Hisalert eye and cheery smile were everywhere, instilling confidence in suchas faltered, and dread in those contemplating defection.

He harassed his rival with an audacity that was almost devilish in itsunexpected ingenuity. For the first time in his life Simon Harley, the townback on the defensive by a combination of circumstances engineered by amaster brain, knew what it was to be checkmated. He had hot the least doubtof ultimate victory, but the tentative success of the brazen youngadventurer, were gall and wormwood to his soul. He had made money his god,had always believed it would buy anything worth while except life, but thisWestern buccaneer had taught him it could not purchase the love of a womannor the immediate defeat of a man so well armed as Waring Ridgway. Intruth, though Harley stuck at nothing, his success in accomplishing thedestruction of this thorn in his side was no more appreciable than had beenthat of Hobart. The Westerner held his own and more, the while he robbedthe great trust of its ore under cover of the courts.

In the flush of success, Ridgway, through his lieutenant, Eaton, came toJudge Purcell asking that a receiver be appointed for the ConsolidatedSupply Company, a subsidiary branch of the trust, on the ground that itsaffairs were not being properly administered. The Supply Company had paiddividends ranging from fifteen to twenty-five per cent for many years, butRidgway exercised his right as a stockholder to ask for a receivership. Inpoint of fact, he owned, in the name of Eaton, only one-tenth of one percent of the stock, but it was enough to serve. For Purcell was a bigotedold Missourian, as courageous and obstinate as perfect health and ignorancecould make him. He was quite innocent of any legal knowledge, his own ruleof law being to hit a Consolidated head whenever he saw one. Lawyers mightargue themselves black in the face without affecting his serenity or hisjustice.

Purcell granted the application, as well as a restraining order against thepayment of dividends until further notice, and appointed Eaton receiverover the protests of the Consolidated lawyers.

Ridgway and Eaton left the court-room together, jubilant over theirsuccess. They dined at a restaurant, and spent the evening at theore-producing company's offices, discussing ways and means. When they hadfinished, his chief followed Eaton to the doors, an arm thrownaffectionately round his shoulder.

"Steve, we're going to make a big killing. I was never so sure of anythingin my life as that we shall beat Simon Harley at his own game. We're boundto win. We've got to win."

"I wish I were as sure as you."

"It's hard pounding does it, my boy. We'll drive him out of the Montanacopper-fields yet. We'll show him there is one little corner of the U. S.where Simon Harley's orders don't go as the last word."

"He has a hundred dollars to your one."

"And I have youth and mining experience and the inside track, as well asstancher friends than he ever dreamed of," laughed Ridgway, clapping theother on the back. "Well, good night, Steve. Pleasant dreams, old man."

The boyish secretary shook hands warmly. "You're a MAN, chief. If anybodycan pull us through it will be you."

Eaton, standing on the street curb at the corner of the Ridgway Building,lit a cigar while he hesitated between his rooms and the club. He decidedfor the latter, and was just turning up the hill, when a hand covered hismouth and an arm was flung around his neck in a stranglehold. He felthimself lifted like a child, and presently discovered that he was beingwhirled along the street in a closed carriage.

Eaton nodded a promise, and, when he could find his voice, demanded: "Whereare you taking me?"

"You'll see in a minute, sir. It's all right."

The carriage turned into an alley and stopped. Eaton was led to a ladderthat hung suspended from the fire-escape, and was bidden to mount. He didso, following his guide to the second story, and being in turn followed bythe other man. He was taken along a corridor and into the first of a suiteof rooms opening into it. He knew he was in the Mesa House, and suspectedat once that he was in the apartments of Simon Harley.

His suspicion ripened to conviction when his captors led him through twomore rooms, into one fitted as an office. The billionaire sat at a desk,busy over some legal papers he was reading, but he rose at once and cameforward with hand extended to meet Eaton. The young man took his handmechanically.

"Glad to have the pleasure of talking with, you, Mr. Eaton. You must acceptmy apologies for my methods of securing a meeting. They are ratherprimitive, but since you declined to call and see me, I can hold only youto blame." An acid smile touched his lips for a moment, though his eyeswere expressionless as a wall. "Mr. Eaton, I have brought you here in thisway to have a confidential talk with you, in order that it might not in anyway reflect upon you in case we do not come to an arrangement satisfactoryto both of us. Your friends cannot justly blame you for this conference,since you could not avoid it. Mr. Eaton, take a chair."

The wills of the two men flashed into each other's eyes like rapiers. Theweaker man knew that was before him and braced himself to meet it. He wouldnot sit down. He would not discuss anything. So he told himself once andagain to hold himself steady against the impulse to give way to thoseimperious eyes behind which was the impassive, compelling will.

"Sit down, Mr. Eaton."

"I'll stand, Mr. Harley."

"SIT DOWN."

The cold jade eyes were not to be denied. Eaton's gaze fell sullenly, andhe slid into a chair.

"I'll discuss no business except in the presence of Mr. Ridgway," he saiddoggedly, falling back to his second line of defenses.

"To the contrary, my business is with you and not with Mr. Ridgway."

"I know of no business you can have with me."

"Wherefore I have brought you here to acquaint you with it."

The young man lifted his head reluctantly and waited. If he had beenwilling to confess it to himself, he feared greatly this ruthless spoilerwho had built up the greatest fortune in the world from thousands ofwrecked lives. He felt himself choking, just as if those skeleton fingershad been at his throat. but he promised himself ever to yield.

The fathomless, dominant gaze caught and held his eyes. "Mr. Eaton, I camehere to crush Ridgway. I am going to stay here till I do. I'm going to wipehim from the map of Montana-- ruin him so utterly that he can neverrecover. It has been my painful duty to do this with a hundred men asstrong and as confident as he is. After undertaking such an enterprise, Ihave never faltered and never relented. The men I have ruined were ruinedbeyond hope of recovery. None of them have ever struggled to their feetagain. I intend to make Waring Ridgway a pauper."

Stephen Eaton could have conceived nothing more merciless than this man'scallous pronouncement, than the calm certainty of his unemphasized words.He started to reply, but Harley took the words out of his mouth.

"Don't make a mistake. Don't tie to the paltry successes he has gained. Ihave not really begun to fight yet."

The young man had nothing to say. His heart was water. He accepted Harley'swords as true, for he had told himself the same thing a hundred times. Whyhad Ridgway rejected the overtures of this colossus of finance? It had beenthe sheerest folly born of madness to suppose that anybody could standagainst him.

"For Ridgway, the die is cast," the iron voice went on. "He is doomedbeyond hope. But there is still a chance for you. What do you consider yourinterest in the Mesa Ore-producing Company worth, Mr. Eaton?"

The sudden question caught Eaton with the force of a surprise. "About threehundred thousand dollars," he heard himself say; and it seemed to him thathis voice was speaking the words without his volition.

"I'm going to buy you out for twice that sum. Furthermore, I'm going totake care of your future--going to see that you have a chance to rise."

The waverer's will was in flux, but the loyalty in him still protested. "Ican't desert my chief, Mr. Harley."

"Do you call it desertion to leave a raging madman in a sinking boat afteryou have urged him to seek the safety of another ship?"

"He made me what I am."

"And I will make you ten times what you are. With Ridgway you have nochance to be anything but a subordinate. He is the Mesa Ore-producingCompany, and you are merely a cipher. I offer your individuality a chance.I believe in you, and know you to be a strong man." No ironic smile touchedHarley's face at this statement. "You need a chance, and I offer it to you.For your own sake take it."

Every grievance Eaton had ever felt against his chief came trooping to hismind. He was domineering. He did ride rough-shod over his allies' opinionsand follow the course he had himself mapped out. All the glory of thevictory he absorbed as his due. In the popular opinion, Eaton was as afarthing-candle to a great electric search-light in comparison withRidgway.

"He trusts me," the tempted man urged weakly. He was slipping, and he knewit, even while he assured himself he would never betray his chief.

"He would sell you out to-morrow if it paid him. And what is he but arobber? Every dollar of his holdings is stolen from me. I ask onlyrestitution of you--and I propose to buy at twice, nay at three times, thevalue of your stolen property. You owe that freebooter no loyalty."

"I can't do it. I can't do it."

"You shall do it." Harley dominated him as bullying schoolmaster does acringing boy under the lash.

"I can't do it," the young man repeated, all his weak will flung into thedenial.

"Would you choose ruin?"

"Perhaps. I don't know," he faltered miserable.

"It's merely a business proposition, young man. The stock you have to sellis valuable to-day. Reject my offer, and a month from now it will be quotedon the market at half its present figure, and go begging at that. It willbe absolutely worthless before I finish. You are not selling out Ridgway.He is a ruined man, anyway. But you--I am going to save you in spite ofyourself. I am going to shake you from that robber's clutches."

Eaton got to his feet, pallid and limp as a rag. "Don't tempt me," he criedhoarsely. "I tell you I can't do it, sir."

Harley's cold eye did not release him for an instant. "One million dollarsand an assured future, or--absolute, utter ruin, complete and final."

"He would murder me--and he ought to," groaned the writhing victim.

"No fear of that. I'll put you where he can't reach you. Just sign yourname to this paper, Mr. Eaton."

"I didn't agree. I didn't say I would."

"Sign here. Or, wait one moment, till I get witnesses." Harley touched abell, and his secretary appeared in the doorway. "Ask Mr. Mott and youngJarvis to step this way."

Harley held out the pen toward Eaton, looking steadily at him. In a strongman the human eye is a sword among weapons. Eaton quailed. The fingers ofthe unhappy wretch went out mechanically for the pen. He was sweatingterror and remorse, but the essential weakness of the man could not standout unbacked against the masterful force of this man's imperious will. Hewrote his name in the places directed, and flung down the pen like a childin a rage.

"Now get me out of Montana before Ridgway knows," he cried brokenly.

"You may leave to-morrow night, Mr. Eaton. You'll only have to appear incourt once personally. We'll arrange it quietly for to-morrow afternoon.Ridgway won't know until it is done and you are gone."

CHAPTER 20. A LITTLE LUNCH AT APHONSE'S

It chanced that Ridgway, through the swinging door of a department store,caught a glimpse of Miss Balfour as he was striding along the street. Hebethought him that it was the hour of luncheon, and that she was no endbetter company than the revamped noon edition of the morning paper.Wherefore he wheeled into the store and interrupted her inspection ofgloves.

"I know the bulliest little French restaurant tucked away in a side streetjust three blocks from here. The happiness disseminated in this world bythat chef's salads will some day carry him past St. Peter with no questionsasked."

"You believe in salvation by works?" she parried, while she considered hisinvitation.

"So will you after a trial of Alphonse's salad."

"Am I to understand that I am being invited to a theological discussion ofa heavenly salad concocted by Father Alphonse?"

"That is about the specifications."

"Then I accept. For a week my conscience has condemned me for excess offrivolity. You offer me a chance to expiate without discomfort. That is myidea of heaven. I have always believed it a place where one pastures inrich meadows of pleasure, with penalties and consciences all excluded fromits domains."

"You should start a church," he laughed. "It would have a greatfollowing--especially if you could operate your heaven this side of theStyx."

She found his restaurant all he had claimed, and more. The little corner ofold Paris set her eyes shining. The fittings were Parisian to the leastdetail. Even the waiter spoke no English.

"But I don't see how they make it pay. How did he happen to come here? Arethere enough people that appreciate this kind of thing in Mesa to supportit?"

He smiled at her enthusiasm. "Hardly. The place has a scarce dozen ofregular patrons. Hobart comes here a good deal. So does Eaton. But itdoesn't pay financially. You see, I know because I happen to own it. I usedto eat at Alphonse's restaurant in Paris. So I sent for him. It doesn'tfollow that one has to be less a slave to the artificial comforts of asupercivilized world because one lives at Mesa."

"I see it doesn't. You are certainly a wonderful man."

"Name anything you like. I'll warrant Alphonse can make good if it is notoutside of his national cuisine," he boasted.

She did not try his capacity to the limit, but the oysters, the salad, thechicken soup were delicious, with the ultimate perfection that comes onlyout of Gaul.

They made a delightfully gay and intimate hour of it, and were stilllingering over their demi-tasse when Yesler's name was mentioned.

"Isn't it splendid that he's doing so well?" cried the girl withenthusiasm. "The doctor says that if the bullet had gone a fraction of aninch lower, he would have died. Most men would have died anyhow, they say.It was his clean outdoor life and magnificent constitution that saved him."

"That's what pulled him through," he nodded. "It would have done his heartgood to see how many friends he had. His recovery was a continuousperformance ovation. It would have been a poorer world for a lot of peopleif Sam Yesler had crossed the divide."

"Yes. It would have been a very much poorer one for several I know."

He glanced shrewdly at her. "I've learned to look for a particularapplication when you wear that particularly sapient air of mystery."

Her laugh admitted his hit. "Well, I was thinking of Laska. I begin tothink HER fair prince has come."

"Meaning Yesler?"

"Yes. She hasn't found it out herself yet. She only knows she istremendously interested."

"He's a prince all right, though he isn't quite a fairy. The woman thatgets him will be lucky.

"The man that gets Laska will be more that lucky," she protested loyally.

"I dare say," he agreed carelessly. "But, then, good women are not so rareas good men. There. are still enough of them left to save the world. Butwhen it comes to men like Sam--well, it would take a Diogenes to findanother."

"I don't see how even Mr. Pelton, angry as he was, dared shoot him."

"He had been drinking hard for a week. That will explain anything when youadd it to his, temperament. I never liked the fellow."

"I suppose that is why you saved his life when the miners took him and weregoing to lynch him?"

"I would not have lifted a hand for him. That's the bald truth. But Icouldn't let the boys spoil the moral effect of their victory by so gross amistake. It would have been playing right into Harley's hands."

"Can a man get over being drunk in five minutes? I never saw anybody moresober than Mr. Pelton when the mob were crying for vengeance and you werefighting them back."

"A great shock will sober a man. Pelton is an errant coward, and he hadpretty good reason to think he had come to the end of the passage. The boysweren't playing. They meant business."

"They would not have listened to another man in the world except you," shetold him proudly.

"It was really Sam they listened to--when he sent out the message askingthem to let the law have its way."

"No, I think it was the way you handled the message. You're a wizard at aspeech, you know."

"Thanks."

He glanced up, for Alphonse was waiting at his elbow.

"You're wanted on the telephone, monsieur."

"You can't get away from business even for an hour, can you?" she rallied."My heaven ,wouldn't suit you at all, unless I smuggled in a trust for youto fight."

"I expect it is Eaton," he explained. "Steve phoned down to the office thathe isn't feeling well to-day. I asked him to have me called up here. If heisn't better, I'm going to drop round and see him."

But when she caught sight of his face as he returned she knew it was serious.

"What's the matter? Is it Mr. Eaton? Is he very ill?" she cried.

His face was set like broken ice refrozen. "Yes, it's Eaton. They say--butit can't be true!"

She had never seen him so moved. "What is it, Waring?"

"The boy has sold me out. He is at the courthouse now, undoing my work--theJudas!"

The angry blood swept imperiously into her cheeks. "Don't waste any moretime with me, Waring. Go--go and save yourself from the traitor. Perhaps itis not too late yet."

He flung her a grateful look. "You're true blue, Virginia. Come! I'll leaveyou at the store as we pass."

The defection of Eaton bit his chief to the quick. The force of the blowitself was heavy--how heavy he could not tell till he could take stock ofthe situation. He could see that he would be thrown out of court in thematter of the Consolidated Supply Company receivership, since Eaton's stockwould now be in the hands of the enemy. But what was of more importance wasthe fact that Eaton's interest in the Mesa Ore-producing Company nowbelonged to Harley, who could work any amount of mischief with it as alever for litigation.

The effect, too, of the man's desertion upon the morale of the M. O. P.forces must be considered and counteracted, if possible. He fancied hecould see his subordinates looking shiftyeyed at each other and wonderingwho would slip away next.

If it had been anybody but Steve! He would as soon have distrusted hisright hand as Steve Eaton. Why, he had made the man, had picked him outwhen he was a mere clerk, and tied him to himself by a hundred favors. Upon the Snake River he had saved Steve's life once when he was drowning. Theboy had always been as close to him as a brother. That Steve should turntraitor was not conceivable. He knew all his intimate plans, stood secondto himself in the company. Oh, it was a numbing blow! Ridgway's sense ofpersonal loss and outrage almost obliterated for the moment hisappreciation of the business loss.

The motion to revoke the receivership of the Supply Company was beingargued when Ridgway entered the court-room. Within a few minutes the newshad spread like wild-fire that Eaton was lined up with the Consolidated,and already the paltry dozen of loafers in the court-room had swelled intohundreds, all of them eager for any sensation that might develop.

Ridgway's broad shoulders flung aside the crowd and opened a way to thevacant chair waiting for him. One of his lawyers had the floor and wasflaying Eaton with a vitriolic tongue, the while men craned forward allover the room to get a glimpse of the traitor's face.

Eaton sat beside Mott, dry-lipped and pallid, his set eyes staring vacantlyinto space. Once or twice he flung a furtive glance about him. His strippedand naked soul was enduring a foretaste of the Judgment Day. The whip ofscorn with which the lawyer lashed him cut into his shrinkingsensibilities, and left him a welter of raw and livid wales. Good God! whyhad he not known it would be like this? He was paying for his treachery andusury, and it was being burnt into him that as the years passed he mustcontinue to pay in self-contempt and the distrust of his fellows.

The case had come to a hearing before Judge Hughes, who was not one ofRidgway's creatures. That on its merits it would be decided in favor of theConsolidated was a foregone conclusion. It was after the judge had renderedthe expected decision that the dramatic moment of the day came to gratifythe seasoned court frequenters.

Eaton, trying to slip as quietly as possible from the room, came face toface with his former chief. For an interminable instant the man he hadbetrayed, blocking the way squarely, held the trembling wretch in the blazeof his scorn. Ridgway's contemptuous eyes sifted to the ingrate's souluntil it shriveled. Then he stood disdainfully to one side so that the manmight not touch him as he passed.

Some one in the back of the room broke the tense silence and hissed: "Thedamned Judas!" Instantly echoes of "Judas! Judas!" filled the room, andpursued Eaton to his cab. It would be many years before he could recallwithout scalding shame that moment when the finger of public scorn waspointed at him in execration.

CHAPTER 21. HARLEY SCORES

What Harley had sought in the subornation of Eaton had been as much themoral effect of his defection as the tangible results themselves. If hecould shake the confidence of the city and State in the freebooter'svictorious star, he would have done a good day's work. He wanted theimpression to spread that Ridgway's success had passed its meridian.

Nor did he fail of his purpose by more than a hair's breadth. The talk ofthe street saw the beginning of the end. The common voice ran: "It's 'Godhelp Ridgway' now. He's down and out."

But Waring Ridgway was never more dangerous than in apparent defeat. If hewere hit hard by Eaton's treachery, no sign of it was apparent in thejaunty insouciance of his manner. Those having business with him expectedto find him depressed and worried, but instead met a man the embodiment ofvigorous and confident activity. If the subject were broached, he was readyto laugh with them at Eaton's folly in deserting at the hour when victorywas assured.

It was fortunate for Ridgway that the county elections came on early in thespring and gave him a chance to show that his power was still intact. Hearranged to meet at once the political malcontents of the State who werebanded together against the growing influence of the Consolidated. He had afew days before called together representative men from all parts of theState to discuss a program of action against the enemy, and Ridgway gave adinner for them at the Quartzite, the evening of Eaton's defection.

He was at the critical moment when any obvious irresolution would have beenfatal. His allies were ready to concede his defeat if he would let them.But he radiated such an assured atmosphere of power, such an unconquerablecurrent of vigor, that they could not escape his own conviction ofunassailability. He was at his genial, indomitable best, the magnetic charmof fellowship putting into eclipse the selfishness of the man. He had beenknown to boast of his political exploits, of how he had been the Warwickthat had made and unmade governors and United States senators; but thefraternal "we" to-night replaced his usual first person singular.

The business interests of the Consolidated were supreme all over the State.That corporation owned forests and mills and railroads and mines. It ransheep and cattle-ranches as well as stores and manufactories. Most of thenewspapers in the State were dominated by it. Of a population of twohundred and fifty thousand, it controlled more than half directly by thesimple means of filling dinner-pails. That so powerful a corporation,greedy for power and wealth, should create a strong but scattered hostilityin the course of its growth, became inevitable. This enmity Ridgwayproposed to consolidate into a political organization, with opposition tothe trust as its cohesive principle, that should hold the balance of powerin the State.

When he rose to explain his object in calling them together, Ridgway'sclear, strong presentment of the situation, backed by his splendid bulk andpowerful personality, always bold and dramatic, shocked dormant antagonismsto activity as a live current does sluggish inertia. For he had eminentlythe gift of moving speech. The issue was a simple one, he pointed out.Reduced to ultimates, the question was whether the State should control the